Drought is not a word that any farmer wants to be reminded of after the challenges of last summer, and it's merely a dim-remembered nightmare for people experiencing flooding in the waterlogged Eastern Corn Belt this summer. But there are reasons that the drought, which still covers 53% of the United States, still matters to the grain markets especially as the 2013 growing season wears on.

In the past several days, I have driven across eastern South Dakota, most of North Dakota, and northern Montana. It's been lovely ... because it has been green, and this has been a very ...